Maths GCSE and Computer Science GCSE are often taught very separately, and yet they make excellent companions. Writing a program to explore a topic from Maths can really help to understand the topic deeply as well as providing a great opportunity to practice your coding skills.

Here’s a fun challenge to keep your programming skills sharp during the holiday:

Use the Python Turtle Graphics Module to draw a circle sector with given a radius and angle.

The result should look something like the image above.

Python Turtle Circle Sector Challenge

Here’s some skeleton code to get you started:

import turtle

screen = turtle.Screen()
screen.setup(500, 500)
screen.title("Circle Sectors")
screen.bgcolor("lightgreen")
pen = turtle.Turtle()
pen.shape("turtle")


def draw_sector(radius, angle, t):
    t.reset()  # Make sure turlte is at 0,0 with heading 0
    # Your task is to complete this procedure


draw_sector(40, 90, pen)

# Some useful code to check positions with a mouse click
screen.listen()
screen.onclick(lambda x, y: print(x, y))

# Allow click to exit
turtle.done()

Have a good go at the solution for yourself before looking at mine. And don’t forget to refer to the Docs!

The ability to find the appropriate documentation and quickly and effectively use it to find the information you need is an essential skill for programmers.

In case you didn’t know this already, this tip can save you literally hours of research time:

Use Control+F, or Command+F in many applications, including your browser, to take you to the exact word or phrase you need to answer your current question.

When you have had a good attempt and hopefully solved this challenge, take a look below at a possible solution. Yours could look quite different – in programming there are usually multiple ways to achieve the same goal.

import turtle

screen = turtle.Screen()
screen.setup(500, 500)
screen.title("Circle Sectors")
screen.bgcolor("lightgreen")
pen = turtle.Turtle()
pen.shape("turtle")


def draw_sector(radius, angle, t):
    t.reset()  # Make sure turlte is at 0,0 with heading 0
    t.speed(1)
    t.fillcolor("violet")
    t.begin_fill()
    t.forward(radius)
    t.setheading(90)  # Due North
    t.circle(radius, angle)
    t.goto(0, 0)
    t.end_fill()
    t.hideturtle()


draw_sector(40, 90, pen)

# Some useful code to check positions with a mouse click
screen.listen()
screen.onclick(lambda x, y: print(x, y))

# Allow click to exit
turtle.done()

I hope you enjoyed this challenge. If you like, let me know how you got on in the comments below.

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